Calendar for October 18th, 2013

St. Luke's Little Summer

Lovely, summerlike days that occur around October 18 are called St. Luke's Little Summer in honor of the saint's feast day. In olden days, St. Luke's Day did not receive as much attention in the secular world as St. John's Day (June 24) and Michaelmas (September 29), so to keep from being forgotten, St. Luke presented us with some golden days to cherish before the coming of winter, or so the story goes. Some folks call this Indian Summer, but that officially occurs between November 11 and November 20.

Every Year

US (Alaska): Alaska Day

Alaska Day

1500s

Died 1503: Pope Pius III

1760s

1767: The boundary line between Maryland and Pennsylvania, commonly known as the Mason-Dixon Line, was finally settled

1850s

1854: Ostend Manifesto of the US declares that if Spain refuses to sell Cuba to them, then the US will take it by force

1860s

1867: Alaska was transferred from Russia to the U.S.

1890s

Died 1893: Lucy Stone Blackwell (suffragette)

1910s

Born 1919: Pierre Elliot Trudeau (15th Canadian prime minister)

1920s

Born 1921: Jesse Helms (politician)

1922: The British Broadcasting Company was formed

Born 1926: Chuck Berry (musician)

Born 1927: George C. Scott (actor)

1930s

Died 1931: Thomas Alva Edison (inventor)

Born 1939: Mike Ditka (football player, coach)

Born 1939: Lee Harvey Oswald (alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy)